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- 180 lire Father Secchi and Meteorograph single
180 lire Father Secchi and Meteorograph single
Object Details
- Description
- On June 25, 1979, the Vatican issued three stamps commemorating the death of the astronomer Father Angelo Secchi, S. J. The series was delayed due to the deaths of Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) and Pope John Paul I (1912-1978).
- Angelo Secchi, astronomer, meteorologist, and physicist, was born in Reggio, Emilia, Italy, in 1818. He joined the Jesuits in 1833 and was ordained a priest in 1847. Between 1839 and 1850, Secchi was a professor at the Roman College, the Jesuit college at Loreto, Stonyhurst College in England, and Georgetown University in Washington, DC. In 1850, he returned to Rome as the director of the Roman College observatory. Secchi was one of the founders of astrophysics. He made the first general spectral classification of the stars and invented the meteorgraph. He died at Rome in 1878.
- Running along the top of each stamp appears a different representation of the stellar spectra. A right profile portrait of Fr. Secchi appears in the upper left corner. The dates "1878-1978" and "Angelo Secchi" appear in the right corner. The value of each stamp with a different representation of a solar protuberance appears in the lower left corner. Each stamp features an image of an astronomical instrument or machine that Fr. Secchi either created or perfected: a meteorgraph on the 180-lire, a spectroscope on the 220-lire, and a telescope on the 300-lire. "POSTE VATICANE" appears in the bottom right corner.
- The stamps are horizontal in format, measuring 50.8 x 30 mm with a perforation of 14 x 13 1/4. Issued in sheets of twenty, they were produced on white glossy paper in multicolor printing in recess and offset by the Polygraphic Institute and Mint of the Italian State. The complete series was 1,200,000.
- Reference:
- Trent, Joseph. "Father Secchi." Vatican Notes 28, no. 2 (September-October 1979): 2-5.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- June 25, 1979
- Object number
- 1983.0147.19510
- Type
- Postage Stamps
- Medium
- paper; ink (multicolored);
- Place
- VATICAN CITY (independent city state)
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Title
- Scott Catalogue Vatican City 654
- Topic
- International Stamps & Mail
- Record ID
- npm_1983.0147.19510
- Usage
- Usage conditions apply
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